


Ugly When You Cry

by Ebay_Garfield



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Fluff, Gwenvid if you squint - Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, dadvid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 04:01:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15186299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ebay_Garfield/pseuds/Ebay_Garfield
Summary: My own version of the classic ‘David isn’t in camp today’ fic, with a darker spin on why he’s not there.





	1. Chapter 1

Maybe it was just his constant fear of being deceived, like Nurf had mentioned before, but Max had a feeling that it wasn’t normal that David hadn’t shown up at the mess hall for breakfast. Seriously. If David followed natural human laws it should be normal for him to be a little bit late at times. But David _didn’t_ follow any normal human laws, and breakfast was _almost over_. No. Something was up, and his answer lay with the apathetic woman who now sat on a bench next to Space Kid and Nerris as she helped them make their own arts  & crafts animals. Max squinted at her and dropped his meagre little chihuahua thing he was working on and marched over to Gwen.

She looked up from her own little project, sensing someone approaching and giving Max a blasé look. “What’s up.” She reached for the red paint. “Cut the bullshit Gwen. Where’s David?” He crossed his little arms. Streaking uneven dark red paint all over a styrofoam cup bodied cat, Gwen sighed. “Doesn’t matter Max. Get back to your project.” But Max would not, _could not_ , accept this for an answer. So he angrily stomped around the bench and shoved Nerris aside, ignoring their yelp of protest.

“Tell me where the fuck David is _or else_.” Max demanded. Rolling her eyes, Gwen started to paint the cat’s head. “I said _or else_. Are you gonna make me ask _again?_ ” He growled. Gwen just ignored him and started painting two green dot-eyes on the head. Max grabbed the table with his tiny brown hands. “Where’s David!” He howled. This caught Gwen’s attention. “What, do you miss him or something?” The older woman baited smugly, sticking a piece of red fluff on the cat’s head. His efforts were failing but his persistence stayed. Max leaned against the table with his cheek in one hand, watching what Gwen did with contempt. She wouldn’t tell him _anything_.

It was then that he noticed. “Hey...” He squinted at the cat Gwen was creating. “What are you making, Gwen?” The boy asked, suspicion colouring his voice. She smirked and looked down at Max. “I’m making a cat version of David.” She responded plainly, grabbing a yellow cloth from the pile of supplies in the middle of the table, and tying it around the cat’s neck. “You’re _what?_ ” Came his shocked response, though the woman just nodded.

“Yeah. Since he couldn’t be here today I made a little version of him to take his place and...y’know,” She smirked, dancing the cat towards Max’s face and tapping him gently on the nose with the cat’s nose, making him go cross eyed for a second. “Annoy you.” Max glared at her now he wasn’t looking at the cat-David. “What the fuck Gwen. God, I think I like it better when you just read your shitty romance novels while we do whatever the fuck we like.” He pouted.

“Oh screw you. Anyways, David’s still on the camp grounds, something just came up and he needs a day to work it out. He’ll be back tomorrow, Max.” She smirked mockingly. “Nothing to worry about. Your camp-dad isn’t gone forever.” Max growled dangerously. “Shut up, fucker. He’s not my dad! And that cat sucks by the way.” He shoved himself off the bench seat and stalked back to Nikki and Neil, Gwen rolling her eyes and pulling out her phone from her pocket so she could scroll through Instagram now she was done. Nikki smiled at him expectantly when he arrived. “So? Is he dead? Adventuring?” She gasped, “Ooh! Has he found a baby wolf to raise as his own?” She squeaked excitedly, holding up a colourful wolf creation of her own. Max just looked even more sour than before and he pouted as he climbed onto the bench. “Nah. Gwen was being a bitch per-usual so she didn’t tell me anything.” Nikki and Neil both looked a little disappointed, though they didn’t say much. A mischievous smirk slowly spread across Max’s face. “But she _did_ tell me that David’s still within the campgrounds. How about we sneak off and find out what our pal David’s up to?” The three looked at each other, and some unspoken agreement came across them.

The councillor’s cabin was separate from the Mess Hall, but connected to a large study and the shack where the Quartermaster stored nefarious things. It took them a couple careful minutes, but Max and his friends ruled out the places where David could be one by one until they came to the councillor’s cabin. This would be the hardest to infiltrate. It was so out in the open, and the porch had no exit’s except for the steps. Their small feet creaked the boards quietly as they approached the door. Max stuck an ear up to the wood, in case anyone was near the doorway. Nikki stepped back from the window and looked over at her friends. She shrugged and smiled.

“Can’t see anyone.” She whispered. “Whatever. He has to be in here. I can’t think of anywhere else he could be.” Max whispered back. Neil shook his head. “Unless he’s gone into town.” The effort it took for Max not to groan was insane. _Why didn’t **I** think of that?_ He sighed, looking back at the door. “Well, we’ve got to try anyways.” He whisper-called over his shoulder. His hands closed around the doorknob and twisted slowly until he heard Nikki and Neil shout out in fear. Attention caught, Max looked over his shoulder only to be met with the sight of Gwen approaching them rapidly, fury in her eyes. They scrambled to enter the building but the door was locked. Left to the mercy of Gwen, the trio stared into the eyes of the beast as she approached.

“What the fuck, guys! Are you _kidding_ me right now?” The woman hollered, screeching to a halt in front of them. “The one day I have to wrangle the kids on my own and you decide to try to break into the councillor’s cabin?!” Gwen fumed. At a loss for words, the three tried to book it before Gwen caught Max by the hoodie and held him high up off the ground. He screamed and waved his arms around, but as Nikki and Neil ran back to help him escape he shook his head and motioned for them to get away. “Go!” He screamed. “Before she catches you too!”

Neil and Nikki smartly fled the scene. Gwen and Max met glares. “What the fuck were you doing at the councillor’s cabin Max.” She demanded. But before he could respond, it dawned on her. “Wait. Where you trying to find _David?_ ” She said, sounding appalled. “Yeah! I want to know what the fuck you’re hiding from me! You could have killed him for all I know, so I’m not taking your word!” His voice came out higher and higher by the second. “If I have to be in this awful fucking place, I at _least_ deserve to know what’s going on!” He began to flail around, almost hitting Gwen in the face.

She sighed and dodged his arms. It took a minute of careful thought, but with a kid like Max it was probably the best choice. Like a ninja she caught one of his little flying hands, forcing him to focus on her. Confusion flickered across his suspicious expression. “Fine.” She deadpanned. “You want to see David? I’ll take you to him.” Gwen lowered him on to the floor as gently as she could and grabbed one of his hands. This made him frown, which kind of hid how nervous what she had said made him. “What d’you mean?” Max looked up at her. “And why’re you holding my hand?” He feebly shook his fist in her grasp as she fished around for the keys to get into the cabin and unlocked the door.


	2. Chapter 2

“So I can lead you around without you wandering off.” Gwen stepped inside, pulling him in with her. She ignored him as he grumbled but trailed behind nonetheless. The hallway broke off into a large room with a kitchenette and a beaten up sliding glass door. In front of the sliding glass door was a sofa, coffee table, and an ancient looking T.V on a cabinet. Gwen dragged Max through the kitchenette and towards a hallway. Looking around her huge backside Max noticed that at the end of that short hallway was two rooms, one shut and the other slightly ajar with the lights off. Apprehension balled in his gut, but Max pushed it down. It’s just David. A probably alive David. Probably.  
  
Gwen stopped at the slightly open door and pushed it open a little more so she could peer in. “David.” She spoke in the softest voice Max had ever heard the woman speak in before. “Someone here wants to see you. Is that alright?” She said, pausing. “Please say no.” Gwen added hopefully. All was silent, which did nothing to ease Max’s nerves. Gwen sighed unhappily and opened the door so that David could see Max in the hallway. Two sets of green eyes traveled from Gwen to meet from across the room.   
  
David looked like shit. Well...maybe compared to others he just looked tired, but Max knew how David usually looked and this was just...not healthy. “So...Gwen didn’t murder you.” The boy quipped awkwardly. David still smiled cheerfully at him. “Nah. She needs me here.” David spoke in a frighteningly rough and quiet voice. “Do you want to come in?” He inquired, laying a hand on the desk he was sat at. Of all the hard decisions in life...Max thought. “Uh. Y-yeah.” He admitted brokenly. What’s up with the three of us and talking quietly all of a sudden? Max thought as he climbed on to a bed near the desk.  
  
“Want me to leave you two alone?” Gwen looked at David. “Or should keep an eye on him?” She said squinting at Max. He stuck his tongue out at her but David just shook his head calmly. “We’re good here Gwen.” And so she slowly walked away, leaving the brightest light to be the hallway seeping into the room, and the window which leaked pale blue light. There was something so alien about the air in this room right now. It was a strange feeling, Mad noted, seeing David in that moment. The older man didn’t make any effort to explain himself, simply turning back to his desk and popping on the lamp. This new light highlighted the papers that David was going through...and the brown bottle.  
  
Swallowing a knot in his throat, Max attempted not to move. The nervous energy made him so desperately want to kick his legs around, but he couldn’t do that. Not when David was drinking some more from that bottle. Oh fuck...David is like, twenty four. Shit...But he doesn’t drink that kind of shit, right? Apparently Max’s nervous silence could be felt, because David turned his head to look at him after a while. Trying to school his facial expression into one of boredom, Max looked at the papers on David’s desk.   
  
“What’re you doing?” He hoped his voice came out confidently. “Filling out camp paperwork.” The older man replied, still looking at Max. “Why?” Came Max’s plain response. David sat back in his chair and looked at the papers. “There wasn’t much else I felt like doing.” He admitted. “I mean...not that I don’t enjoy being with you campers!” He finally looked at Max again with those tired green eyes that now were filled with some urgency. That’s David for ‘ya...  
  


“I was just...a little too tired to work at top speed today.” He smiled and shrugged sheepishly. Max frowned and looked at his feet. “So is it working? Am I finally cracking you yet?” He inquired, but David just looked confused. “Cracking me yet? What d’you mean?”  
  
“Like...I mean you’ve gotten a beer out...and you’re willingly doing paperwork on a Wednesday cause you’re tired...you might not want to think it’s my fault but it probably is.” He shrugged, not meeting David’s eyes for some godforsaken reason. Maybe he just didn’t want to see David’s face when he told Max how tired the boy made him. But what did it matter if David was unhappy with him? That was the whole point!   
  
Although Max couldn’t see it, recognition washed over David’s expression of concern. “Oh...” He muttered. A large and rough hand came down on Max’s curly hair, ruffling it and crushing Max under the force, making the boy wince. His tiny brown hands clawed at the arm that was now leaving his head, but Max was more confused than angry. He finally looked at David in the eyes again, wondering what this meant.   
  
David was smiling. Albeit, weakly, but he was smiling at him. “You could never make me tired enough to stay inside like this. And you aren’t cracking me any time soon.” He tapped the beer on its rim. “And as for this? I know what you’re thinking, Max. Adult plus alcohol equals really bad, for many reasons. And that’s very good thinking! But this is my first, and only, one for the day. I’m not in any way going to hurt you. It’s alright.” David added softly, still smiling at Max.  
  
“T-then why are you here? If you were really just tired than you’d need rest...but you’re doing paperwork.” Max pressed on. The smile that warmed David’s face slipped off and into something more solemn. “Nothing gets past you.” He sighed. Looking back at the desk, thoughts seemed to trouble him for a moment before David plucked up the courage to speak.  
  
“Today I found out that my mom died.” David spoke softly, embarrassingly enough his voice broke off a little at the end because he felt strangely on the spot saying it. But Max was mature enough to know. The older man forced himself to look at Max and smile. “But I’m handling it. The first day is always the hardest.” He hoped his voice came out confidently.  
  
At a loss for words, Max just stared at him in silence for a moment. He was inexperienced with caring whether or not someone felt bad about a death. He was inexperienced with death in general. It was then that an urge came to him that he’d only ever felt once before. Back at the pizza shop on Parents Day. Max thought over it for a minute and came to the conclusion that it could do no harm, and no one was around to watch.  
  
He hopped off the bed and marched to David’s chair. Max looked up at David expectantly, crossing his arms. “Get up and crouch to my level.” He demanded. David raised a thick eyebrow but played along, scooting out of the green wooden chair. The small boy stepped back a bit to give his councillor some room to move as David stood up. Suddenly the ginger man was crouched near to his level, staring back at him with a look of exhausted amusement.   
  
“What, am I amusing you?” Max quipped defensively. David shook his head, an eyebrow raised but a small smile forming on his lips none the less. “So you’re smiling! Well I’ll give you something to smile about.” Max smirked, causing David to chuckle a little. What a little adult. Came such a clear and positive thought, the first one that day. But it as interrupted because suddenly he had a small face in his chest, and arms trying their best to wrap around him.  
  
“Oh.” Was all David could say. And oh was all he could say be cause there wasn’t any way he could describe how he felt in that moment. “Oh.” His voice wavered as his eyes started to feel hot with tears he couldn’t quite control. Tears he hadn’t cried all day because he was so much better than that. He was so much better than feeling sorry for himself for something that was his fault. But the tears were there now, weren’t they. Rolling down his face as he quietly sobbed, because Max was hugging him, so something must be terribly wrong.   
  
David clamped a hand around his mouth to silence himself since he couldn’t stop the tears, and let himself taste the bitter salt of them as they rolled into his mouth because now he was sobbing. And even if he covered his mouth he couldn’t hide the sound, because he was a really loud crier. Something he’d always knew made him look really ugly. “Like a big, Irish, Kim Kardashian.” He heard Max say from in between his quiet wails and wet hiccups.  
  
David looked down at the boy who was hugging him in confusion as the tears continued but lessened. “What?” He said, though it came out muffled and wet while he rubbed his tear streaked eyes.  
  
“You said you’re an ugly crier...” Max stared sheepishly. “I agreed. You look like a big Irish Kim Kardashian.”   
  
They were tensely silent. Then there came laughter. Laughter like no laughter they had ever shared before, because they hadn’t. Up until this point Max couldn’t count a time when he’d laughed with David and not at him. And maybe there were some new tears in David’s eyes but that was okay because Max was close to tears too, and it was only because this was so funny. Their stomach hurt from laughing at first, and then they hurt some more because they started rolling on the floor and banging their fists on the wooden floorboards. The sound was like happiness incarnate. The feeling much the same.  
  
“Irish Kim Kardashian!” David wheezed, and Max laughed even harder. “I-I don’t know why I said that!” The boy howled and grinned so hard as he laughed that his cheeks hurt. Someone was running in the cabin, but neither boy noticed until she burst into the hall and into David’s room to find them on the floor. David noticed her first and pointed a finger at Gwen’s frightened expression, laughing some more.   
  
“Max! Look at her face!” He howled with glee. Max picked his head off the floor and looked at the woman who was still shocked and confused. Just the sight of her caused him to erupt into a fit of hysterics. She ran a hand through her hair and slowly smiled, relaxing by a fraction although she was still confused.  
  
“Okay...what’s happening here?” Gwen inquired nervously. David seemed to regain himself a little, chuckling. “Max called me a big Irish Kim Kardashian!” He exclaimed proudly. The aforementioned boy lifted his head off the ground and grinned at Gwen. “And I’d do it again!”  
  
David started to hiccup now that he was done laughing, and rubbed his raw eyes. Despite this he smiled more genuinely than he had in a while. Gwen couldn’t help but feel a surge of something in her chest as she looked from Max to David. Although she couldn’t be certain, it felt a little like happiness.  
  
She stepped in to the room and placed a hand on David’s shoulder once he rose to his full height. From behind her back she produced the arts and crafts cat she’d been working on before. David gasped a little when he saw it, smiling gently. “Is that what I think it is?” His voice filled with joy.  
  
“Yeah.” She nodded. He took the cat gently from her hand and smiled at it admiringly for a second, until suddenly he was engulfing her in a careful hug with his long and absurdly strong arms. “Thank you for this!” David murmured into her hair. “No big deal.” Gwen exhaled, ignored her burning cheeks.  
  
Somewhere from the side of them, Max cleared his throat.   
“Alright lovebirds, break it off. You’ve got a ten year old right here.” He smirked jokingly  
Reluctantly, David let go of Gwen and pretended that his face felt this hot because of all the emotions he’d just gone through. Gwen unknowingly did the same, shrugging and heading towards the door. “Well...I’ve gotta return to the campers...” She trailed off, thoughtfully looking down at Max.  
  
“Do you want to come with?” She raised an eyebrow at the young boy, jerking her head towards the hallway from the doorframe where she stood. Max nodded, the smallest smile on his lips as he followed Gwen out the door, but not before Gwen could look back at David and wave. He waved back and clutched the cat version of him close to his chest with care.   
  
Maybe he still had some hard feelings about the news he’d received of his mother’s death. But he wasn’t alone in this. At least, it didn’t feel like it.


End file.
